More Exploring

Thursday began with Dad, Ben, and I heading to the YMCA to work out together and then swim for a while.  By the time we finished, it was lunchtime, so we headed home to eat with mom.

Just as we pulled into the driveway, our neighbors from across the couldesac, the StJohns, came over to meet us.  Scott is a year older than Ben, and happens to have just broken the same bones in his foot (other foot though) that Ben broke a couple of weeks ago, so the similarities couldn't have been closer. :) I think they'll become really good friends.  There are two girls, Courtney and Lindsey.  Lindsey is currently away on a missions trip, but I'm looking forward to meeting her when she gets back.  She'll be a sophomore next year.  It was encouraging to meet such sweet neighbors that are Christians too, and i think we'll do lots of things together as families.

More unpacking followed that afternoon, and then out to El Maguey for some mexican food.

After that, we walked the dogs as a family and then headed back to the house for an evening of burning.  This may sound a little confusing, but we were going to burn our old house plans.  Some reading this know the story of the house, some only know bits and pieces, and some know nothing at all.  To make a long story short, our intentions 3 years ago of remodeling our FL house didn't end up working out for certain reasons, and we never moved back into that house.  Our journey of moving 5 times and staying in 4 rental houses in the past 3 years has brought us closer together and has even brought us here to Missouri.  The plans were a small representation the whole experience that our family has gone through.  Since we didn't need them anymore, we wanted to burn them as a small but tangible act of closure, both for our family and for the end of that chapter in our lives.

The plans

Conveniently, there's a little chiminea on the back patio of the house, so we grabbed the rolls of plans and the lighter and headed outside as the sky faded.  One by one we rolled up the sheets and dropped them in, each taking turns.  It was a pleasant, cathartic time, and it was nice to be outside with the smell of the fire and the lightning bugs all around.  After we had finished burning the last piece, we all thought s'mores sounded yummy, so we toasted marshmallows over our house-plans fire and all enjoyed the treat.  In mom's words, it was "a sweet ending". :)

Dad lighting the fire

Mom's plans

The part of the plans that shows
where my bedroom was

Me burning my room plans

All the ashes blowing across the yard

We all put the last piece of
the plans in together

All burnt up :)

Dad and Ben :)

Marshmallows!

The perfect s'more

Ben before he knew I was taking his picture-
you can see the lightning bug in front of his face
and the other one in the upper right-hand corner

Enjoying his s'more

Mom- the master of the skewers :)

It was the perfect end to our day :)